Mandatory H1N1 Vaccine For NY Health Workers Suspended 292
lunatick writes "The controversial mandatory swine flu vaccine for health care workers in NY has been suspended. While the reason for the suspension was stated as a shortage of the vaccine, a connection was found showing state Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D. and/or his wife may directly profit from the sale of the vaccine. Within hours of that connection being questioned on a radio show and the podcast being distributed, the announcement was made suspending the order. The health care community of NYS is petitioning the State Attorney general to investigate the connection."
typo (Score:2, Informative)
Re:hunh? (Score:5, Informative)
TFA is claiming that mandating the flu vaccine would net quite a bit of profit for whatever pharmaceutical company manufactures them and since Goldman Sachs likely invests in said company, they'd stand to gain indirectly from the mandate and therefore so would the husband/wife pushing the flu mandate. But I agree with you. It looks like TFA's claims are a bit of a stretch. These employees work with people who are often immuno-compromised and getting infected with H1/N1 could kill them.
Re:Unions are outraged! (Score:3, Informative)
What Unions did 100 years ago or even 25 years is not what they are doing now.
They had their time and and place, and the 21st century is not one of them. As an ex-union (Teamsters) employee, I will never support them again
Re:Mandating vaccines... (Score:3, Informative)
Many naturally wonder how real the threat is considering how many months we've been told the sky is falling.
Umm, dude, we haven't even entered the northern hemisphere flu season, yet, and we've already hit the average number of pediatric flu deaths for a normal year. Is the sky falling? No (you can blame the media, as always for perpetuating that idea). But there most definitely is cause for concern.
Re:BUSTED! (Score:1, Informative)
I do indeed
60% of doctors plan to refuse it.
Citation is
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/24/doctors-refuse-swine-flu-vaccine [guardian.co.uk]
Re:BUSTED! (Score:1, Informative)
In 1918, 650,000 Americans died -- a number equivalent to approximately 2,000,000 given today's population. In 1918 terms, only 333 people have died. I worry about it when it starts to get to old-school flu numbers.
And that was getting off lightly. The world-wide mortality rate was 5 times that.
It doesn't affect young adults more than any group (and neither did the 1918 flu).
Re:antivaxxers on slashdot (Score:3, Informative)
Nation gets immunized, people stop dying and being crippled by polio.
Actual headlines:
"Salk's vaccine works"
"Polio routed"
"Polio vaccine is 'safe, effective, and potent'"
Re:Mandating vaccines... (Score:3, Informative)
Fucking shit, could you cram any more potently concentrated misinformation into a single post?
The swine flu is *usually* a mild flu, just like the regular seasonal flu. But it *is* killing healthy young people, which the regular flu does not. It's landing them in the hospital, and then killing them after prolonged ICU courses. The mortality rate for pregnant women hospitalized with novel H1N1 infections is about 50% based on case series from several hospitals, including my own.
There is no "presumption" here. Novel H1N1 is tested via PCR of nasal swabs or sputum samples, and/or at autopsy on lung tissue. Every suspicious hospitalized case in California (at least) is tested like this. For certain, every death in the hospital is definitively tested. There is no "presumption". Novel H1N1, followed by bacterial superinfection, is what is killing these healthy young people. Just like in 1918.
The formal CDC recommendations are that *young* people be first in line for the vaccine. OK, pregnant women, infants and the immunocompromised are first, but of the general public, young people are next. For once, the elderly can safely wait, since most have partial immunity from the 1957 pandemic H1N1, and the most severe cases of novel H1N1 are in young people, not old (where it's acting much like the seasonal flu).
Seriously, read the CDC recommendations on who should get the vaccine [cdc.gov]. In fact, the CDC has an unbelievable website on novel H1N1 [cdc.gov] with the best real data available on rates, outcomes, and recommendations.
Read a few of the emerging case reports, like the these 68 young people [nih.gov] in Oceania who were in the ICU on heart-lung machines, of whom 1/3 died. Or the 10 young ICU cases [nih.gov] from Michigan back in the spring.
This is serious stuff, and healthy young people (especially pregnant) are at risk. If you want relative risk, then know that the swine flu has already, beyond any doubt, killed more young healthy Americans than the number who got Guillain-Barre from the 1976 vaccine, and the flu season hasn't even started yet. Get the vaccine.